The Odemira Chamber in Beja County is demanding that the government allocate funds from the PRR to finance actions that will make the area devastated by the August 2023 forest fire more resilient to fires.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, the president of the municipality, Hélder Guerreiro, indicated that these actions are included in the Integrated Landscape Management Zone (AIGP) that will be created in the territory and has already been defined in a resolution of the Council of Ministers.
“We have done everything. All that is left for the government to do is to issue a notice” in the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) for MKYAS. [Instituto da Conservação da Natureza e das Florestas] “put forward your candidacy and we can create AIGP in this territory,” he said.
Starting on August 5, 2023, in the Baiona area, in the parish of São Teotónio (Odemira), the fire spread to the Algarve municipalities of Monchique and Aljesur, and only six days after its outbreak it was considered to be under control.
The fire was the largest recorded in 2023, covering at least 7,530 hectares, according to the ICNF.
In his statements to Luce, the mayor stressed that the creation of the AIGP would allow for a “fundamental intervention, planning and structuring of the territory for the future,” for example, “by replacing eucalyptus trees with areas of native trees.”
“The territory burned down, and if it burned down, then now we need to do future work on planning and developing the territory in order to resist fires, and even prevent them, if that is possible, of course,” he emphasized.
Noting that the population of the three municipalities has been mobilized and that a cooperative has even been created to manage the AIGP, Hélder Guerreiro stressed that “the PRR also has money, a defined territory and prepared actions.”
“The application is ready. Just open the notice. That’s all the government needs to do,” he insisted.
The mayor said he would meet with the Minister of Forestry to try to find a solution that would allow Saboya, Santa Clara and Santo Teotonio to be considered priority counties for fuel management monitoring.
The parishes, he claimed, “have a high fire hazard, but not more than 20%” of their territory, but “since they are very large geographically, 20% or 19% of their territory is a large area, and it was clearly visible that this was a fire hazard zone.”
“But this is not what prevented the idea of creating, within the framework of this resolution, the Council of Ministers of the AIGP,” he said, noting that the document opens up such a possibility because “this is a territory that has been burned with a structural dimension.”
Asked about the amount expected to finance the actions envisaged by the AIGP, the municipal president said the application “needs to be further structured” but noted that it “will always exceed six million euros”.
Helder Guerreiro particularly highlighted the work carried out by the Chamber in conjunction with the MCAS in the aftermath of the fire, namely the restoration of the area, the cleaning of waterways and the clearing of passages.
“We have another team of forestry experts who are on the ground, not only from a preventive point of view, but also to carry out operations,” such as controlled fire actions, which have already taken place in the parish of Santo Teotonio.
In addition, the mayor noted that after the fire, the ministries of agriculture and economy gave a “quick and structured response,” supporting residents, businessmen, and even municipalities that suffered losses.
“Ultimately we will all need more support, but the initial support has been positive and most of the affected people who were engaged in informal economic activity have been allowed to receive such support,” he said.
The municipal president acknowledged that in the case of unlicensed or emergency homes, owners “did not have such an opportunity for support,” but assured that a solution had been found for those left homeless.
“From my point of view, no one was left homeless in the Odemira municipality,” he added.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Sandra Hansen, a news website Author and Reporter for 24 News Reporters. I have over 7 years of experience in the journalism field, with an extensive background in politics and political science. My passion is to tell stories that are important to people around the globe and to engage readers with compelling content.